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Monday, July 26, 2010

pink patchwork perfection

I've gone back to an old project. This one has been in the works for at least 6-8 months, I can't quite remember. I wouldn't normally describe myself as a "pink" person, but it seems that this quilt and the first one I completed for myself would say different.

I love this quilt for a number of reasons. It's comprised of fabrics purchased mainly at The Workroom which if you ever have the chance you should definitely visit. My husband and I drove to Ontario for 3 weeks during the Christmas season of 2008, and while we were there took a little trip into Toronto. I love Toronto and have decided that I could live there (because I am a lover of metropolis') but Joel has lived there before and isn't so thrilled with it even though like me he loves urban centers. Other than the giant soaker in my UGG boots and the trudging through 13 blocks of melting snow, it was a perfect day. We went to the Hockey Hall of Fame (because how can you possibly resist it!) and then took a trip to the Workroom where I had a large budget to stock up on fabric with.

Even better than ordering online is the experience of actually handling the fabric before you buy it and I rarely do that because of prices here in Calgary.

So, not only was the experience of buying the fabric great, but the quilt is full of really great fabrics from now out of print collections: (Katie Jump Rope, Mendocino, Cake Rock Beach, Country Fair, etc.) are you jealous yet?

So there is a reason that I think of it as perfectly pink.

Originally, I was apparently trying to make more work for myself by ironing all my seams open. But after an extremely helpful meeting with the Calgary Modern Quilt Guild I was advised to start ironing the seams to the right and left alternating by row. (Which, yes, I have seen a dozen times before and for some reason never did it). Since changing to ironing my seams to the side the whole quilt has been moving along much quicker. The seams are lining up more easily and I don't want to scream and throw it in a drawer anymore.

So now, this is where I am. I have finished piecing all the squares into rows (22 in total) and have moved on to sewing the rows together. I start in pairs and then sew the pairs together and so on and sew forth. Har har, I am a punny woman.

I don't know if I could love it any more! I figure I'll knock off the rest of the top tomorrow and then I will move onto worrying about the rest of the quilt which includes finding a great backing fabric and ordering more batting.

Right now I am contemplating Connecting Threads for thread and batting because the prices seem great and the shipping is dirt cheap. Has anybody used this? Do you have another recommendation for cheap (100% cotton, 120" wide) batting? One thing I don't love about Connecting Threads is the arbitrary 7% charge added to all Canadian orders to cover who knows what. I live in a Province without sales tax (how did I ever live anywhere else and thank goodness we don't have the dreaded HST here!) so it irks me a bit when an extra whatever percent is added to my order. I don't know, can I do better? Suggestions and links greatly appreciated!!

2 comments:

First off...I love the quilt! It's going to be perfect! I have this thing for simple patchwork quilts. They are timeless, modern and always so pretty!

Second...Connecting Threads....my absolute favorite thread ever. It's all I use. It's so cheap and I never have problems with my thread breaking or anything. I've tried $12 a spool threads from specialty quilting stores and they were horrible and broke all the time. I've tried several other kinds and still, Connecting Threads Essential threads are my favorite. I've finally given up trying any others b/c it's the best I've used. I even ordered the huge cones of thread now so I'll never be low on the neutral colors. As far as their batting, that I have not used. But it's on sale right now and I have a few big quilts to quilt and hate cutting my 90" wide yardage that I buy. (I tend to only buy 5 yards at a time) So I think it will be lots easier buying the already cut pieces in the sizes I need. I've heard that the Hobbs brand is good. I'm going to get the 100% cotton kind.

About

Hi, I'm Jessy! I'm 26 and I live in Calgary, Alberta in Canada with my wonderful husband Joel, my brother Rob, and our two rambunctious cats. I used to hand sew things like purses when I was younger, but a few years ago I got a gorgeous Janome machine for my birthday and I've been in a sewing frenzy ever since. I try to find time between work and life to do a little sewing every week. Sometimes I'm successful, sometimes not.